Gary W. Graley
“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Mar 2, 1999
- Messages
- 27,487
Hi Folks, I am a bit of a nut about sharpening, and cutting things up even if there seems to be no need for them to be cut up, just ask my wife 
Wanted to pass along some things that I do to check the edge and the point of the knife after sharpening.
As a recent thread mentioned, nice photo of hairs too, that hair isn't a consistent medium to test sharpeness, it's fun but can be misleading. Phone book paper or receipt paper can give better results as to seeing how cleanly the edge can push cut through them.
But I also check for how the bevel angles are, I keep my bevels fairly narrow but try to keep the shoulders rounded for better cutting, one test I do, seems odd, again my wife's input, but I'll take a Johnson & Johnson's Q-tip as they are quite hard material. I'll press down on the spine of the knife perpendicular to the Q-Tip and see how much force it takes if it can at all, to get through the material. Thinner blades usually do well, but even thicker blades can too if sharpened properly. While it might slice paper it might not get down through that Q-tip easily. Another would be to see how well it can push cut down through a book, some knives will just leave an impression and not make the cut. Now, I've found if you angled the Q-tip to the blade it will cut a lot easier at an angle as opposed to directly across the Q-tip, must be how the paper is wound up.
And the point, it's always good to have a nice sharp point right? You can feel the tip to see if it catches on your finger tip, but I'll take a paper towel quilted Bounty is soft and supple, so with it being soft it takes a quite sharp point to pierce through the material. I'll hold a section of the paper towel between my fingers and try to gently push the point through the material. IF it does not have a sufficient point, it will push the paper towel inward until you force it through, a really sharp point will not push but just enter into the material. Imagine it being enlarged many times and picture the tip as being a round ball, it doesn't penetrate as well as an acute tip. Also I use the Bounty to see how well the blade cuts, a very sharp knife will glide through that material cleanly.
Here's a couple shots of a knife going though a book, the first is my Le Compact by Chambriard, it's grind brings the edge down quite thin so you see it has a minimum edge bevel.
While the very nice Spyderco Pingo for it's small size had the blade ground down but the bevel area was a bit thicker so you can see I softened the shoulders of the edge bevel to allow it to cut through this book, which was a pretty tightly bound book but she cut down through.
and of course I can't help but test it on my arm hair, which my wife truly hates me to do, but, as I've mentioned before, we have a Constitutional Right to Bare Arms...
G2
Wanted to pass along some things that I do to check the edge and the point of the knife after sharpening.
As a recent thread mentioned, nice photo of hairs too, that hair isn't a consistent medium to test sharpeness, it's fun but can be misleading. Phone book paper or receipt paper can give better results as to seeing how cleanly the edge can push cut through them.
But I also check for how the bevel angles are, I keep my bevels fairly narrow but try to keep the shoulders rounded for better cutting, one test I do, seems odd, again my wife's input, but I'll take a Johnson & Johnson's Q-tip as they are quite hard material. I'll press down on the spine of the knife perpendicular to the Q-Tip and see how much force it takes if it can at all, to get through the material. Thinner blades usually do well, but even thicker blades can too if sharpened properly. While it might slice paper it might not get down through that Q-tip easily. Another would be to see how well it can push cut down through a book, some knives will just leave an impression and not make the cut. Now, I've found if you angled the Q-tip to the blade it will cut a lot easier at an angle as opposed to directly across the Q-tip, must be how the paper is wound up.
And the point, it's always good to have a nice sharp point right? You can feel the tip to see if it catches on your finger tip, but I'll take a paper towel quilted Bounty is soft and supple, so with it being soft it takes a quite sharp point to pierce through the material. I'll hold a section of the paper towel between my fingers and try to gently push the point through the material. IF it does not have a sufficient point, it will push the paper towel inward until you force it through, a really sharp point will not push but just enter into the material. Imagine it being enlarged many times and picture the tip as being a round ball, it doesn't penetrate as well as an acute tip. Also I use the Bounty to see how well the blade cuts, a very sharp knife will glide through that material cleanly.
Here's a couple shots of a knife going though a book, the first is my Le Compact by Chambriard, it's grind brings the edge down quite thin so you see it has a minimum edge bevel.
While the very nice Spyderco Pingo for it's small size had the blade ground down but the bevel area was a bit thicker so you can see I softened the shoulders of the edge bevel to allow it to cut through this book, which was a pretty tightly bound book but she cut down through.
and of course I can't help but test it on my arm hair, which my wife truly hates me to do, but, as I've mentioned before, we have a Constitutional Right to Bare Arms...
G2
